"Cheap air tickets" has become the rallying cry to drive the expansion of the air transport industry. Go back fifty years and air travel was relatively expensive. The rich have always been able to afford the best when it comes to getting around the country. Businesses were also happy to pay for their executives to drum up sales in all parts of the world. That's one of the reasons why being an air hostess was considered such a glamorous job. There were supposedly endless parties in foreign capitals with a good chance of making a good marriage. Now there are low cost carriers to compete with the legacy airlines. This has driven many of the older lines into bankruptcy, forcing down prices and dramatically expanding the number of people able to afford flying. It also means much of the glamor has been lost from the job of flight attendant. In these days of equal opportunities, men now work the aisles and discover just how hard the work is.

This leaves you, the customer, in a good position. On every route where there's competition from one of the low cost carriers, the air fares are forced down. What used to be a big price ticket, is now highly affordable. If you pick up on a special deal, the prices get even more affordable.

These come in two ways. The first is when you put a package together. Just buying the air ticket ahead of time brings only small discounts. But if you also buy a hotel room in your destination and rent a vehicle, then the visit is suddenly a very special deal. Not only airlines are under pressure to maximize the number of people using their services. Hotels need people to stay and rental companies have fleets of vehicles ready waiting. Unless guests fly in, no one gets any business. The second source of deals is the travel agents who buy tickets in bulk from the airlines. This gives them the chance to sell the seats at low prices. These are often offered as last-minute deals with airlines trying to maximize the number of people on each airplane.